What Music Keeps Me Sane?

Well, the sane part is debatable, but I am definitely drawn to more pop culture pieces. I think it's nice to escape from the classical music world sometimes.

On road trips, I love to listen to upbeat movie soundtracks, especially Cars and She's the Man. They keep me excited to continue traveling the monotonous miles ahead.

Real Gone by Sheryl Crow

Sh-Boom by The Chords

No Sleep Tonight by The Faders

And, I'm not going to lie. I totally dance around to these songs in my room while I use a hairbrush as a microphone. You have those songs, too. Don't judge!

On a more serious note (no pun intended), I have two songs that remind me of my grandmother. The first is Josh Groban's You Raise Me Up. I know, I know. That's corny. But the first time I heard this song, my grandmother had just passed away. The funeral was the next day, and I didn't know how I was going to bear it. Then this song came on the radio, and I remember thinking Grandma had sent this song to me from heaven. For a few moments in all the chaos of death, I felt some peace.

You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban

The other song that reminds me of my grandmother is one that makes me very sad. I feel like this is the song I would sing to my grandmother if I could bring her back to life. You see, my grandmother died fairly suddenly. I was only 10, and I remember my mom leaving to go take care of my grandmother in the hospital. I had this terrible sense of dread, and I kept begging my parents to let me visit. One night, the dread of my grandmother dying was so great that I went and asked my dad, "Is Grandma going to die?" He was so genuinely shocked by my question and so adamant that it was just bronchitis that I ignored my intuition and didn't pray for her. The next morning, my dad walked into my room, and I just burst into tears because I knew. And because I didn't pray for her, I felt really guilty for a long time about not protecting her from death. Leona Lewis' I Will Be encompassed a lot of what I felt, even though it came out two years afterwards. It still chokes me up a little.

I Will Be by Leona Lewis

I'm also a big fan of Rufus Wainwright. He can go a little flat sometimes, but I still love the quality of his voice. He also tends to mix classical elements into his songs, which I like. The one below has a horn solo.

 The Art Teacher by Rufus Wainwright

And last, but most certainly NOT least, there is my favorite instrumental work of all time . . . Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. I am a firm believer that works like ballets and operas must be watched and not just listened to, so I have a clip from the best version ever produced -- The Royal Ballet with Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.

This is the scene where Romeo must leave Juliet at dawn because he's been exiled. 

And this clip is here just because it's so freaking adorable. (Sorry I cut their heads off.)

Sharing Art

I've always been drawn to art with vibrant colors, especially bold primary colors. However, I like there to be an abstract quality about it, whether the proportions are off or seemingly different objects are placed together.

Fatata te Miti (By the Sea), 1892

Paul Gauguin

Gauguin was a stockbroker turned painter. This painting is from his fist visit to Tahiti. I especially love the blue-green of the water. Funnily enough, Gauguin studied with Vincent van Gogh, another one of my favorite artists.

Wheatfield with Crows, 1890

Vincent van Gogh

Although Van Gogh was a brilliant artist, he had several health issues. The year before this painting, he had a mental breakdown, and the same month (July) he painted Wheatfield with Crows is also the same month he committed suicide. I like this painting because of the contrast between light and dark.

Le bonheur de vivre (The Joy of Life), 1905

Henri Matisse

I LOVE the color in this painting. This is a true "explosion of color," as you like to say, Mr. Dr. Vaneman. The artistic movement for this kind of work where color reigns supreme is called Fauvism. 

Mother and Child, 1991

Eric Hefte

While this is not always true, I think most people's tastes are the product of their environment. One of the reasons I like vivid colors is because that's what I grew up with. The painting above is one that's been in my bedroom since childhood. Since my dad uses bold colors in his paintings, that's what I like to see in other people's works. I have a friend who lives in Florida, and she loves neutral colors and pastels. What about you? Did your environment shape your artistic palette? I know mine did!

 

The Best Performances of 21st Century Repertoire

Riddle: Where can you find the best performances of fairly unfamiliar 21st century repertoire? 

(The answer's below, but if you want to try and guess, I've given you some clues by defining the terms underlined above).

Best Performances
1. There are little or no mistakes during the performance.
2. You connect with the piece or the performance of the piece in some way.

Fairly Unfamiliar
1. This is, admittedly, a bit ambiguous. So . . . I decided that if I asked 10 random people, "Do you know such-and-such a piece of music?" and the majority of those 10 people wouldn't know, then that qualified as 'fairly unfamiliar.'

21st Century Repertoire
1. It's from this century, obviously.
2. It's experimental.

So now do you want to know the answer to the riddle? Do ya? Do ya?!

drum roll please . . . 

ANSWER:

YOUTUBE

Still not convinced? Fine, I'll explain.

Best Performances

1. YouTubers have the chance to re-record every second of their music, so there aren’t very many mistakes.

2. You connect with the piece because it’s personal. 

Fairly Unfamiliar

1. If you were to ask random people on the street about a random YouTuber's music, there's a good chance they wouldn't know what the heck you were talking about. 

21st Century Repertoire

1. YouTube wasn’t even created until 2005. It’s definitely part of this century.

2. YouTube is ALL ABOUT EXPERIMENTATION.

With that in mind, here are five selections that I thoroughly enjoy:

(I'm curious to know which ones you were already familiar with. Comment!)

1. Tobuscus takes trailers for movies and video games and then creates literal commentary.

2. Nick Pitera sings classic Disney songs with himself x 6.

3. This YouTuber modernized Belle.

4. Charlie composes a song ONLY using items he finds in his house!

5. This YouTuber created a song from a newsreel clip. 

Do you agree or disagree that YouTube is a great place to find new music?